gulp-inject-stringified-html

Gulp Plugin to inject HTML templates into Javascript files.

Why?

When building single page web applications (SPAs), the View logic needs to know the "template" to be rendered.

For example, when using AngularJS Directives, either a template or templateUrl property can be given so the directive knows what html to render when compiled.

Pain Points with Directives and Templates:

1. BAD - templateUrl creates dependency between View logic and template's URL location
2. UGLY - template forces developer to manually escape html string (tedious, unreadable)

In a perfect world...

• Templates should be readable.
• View logic should be orthogonal to template URL location.

A Solution...

• GOOD - embed template in View logic at build time (automation! DRY!).

The gulp-inject-stringified-html gulp plugin does just that :)

Usage

First, install gulp-inject-stringified-html as a development dependency:

npm install --save-dev gulp-inject-stringified-html

Then, add it to your gulpfile.js:

Basics

• Put { gulp_inject: './path/to/your/file.html' } inside your javascript file.
• Use gulp-inject-stringified-html in your Javascript gulp tasks.
• That's It!

Below is example code and its expected output.

// gulpfile.js

var injectHtml = require('gulp-inject-stringified-html');

gulp.task('js', function () {
  return gulp.src(['src/views/hello.js'])
    .pipe(injectHtml())                    // <--- this!
    .pipe(gulp.dest('public/hello.js'));
});

// src/views/hello.html

<p>Hello, World!</p>

// src/views/hello.js

function sayHello() {
  return { gulp_inject: './hello.html' };  // <-- and this!
}

Result...

// public/hello.js

function sayHello() {
  return "<h2>Hello, World!</h2>";        // <-- turns into this!
}

JS Gulp Task Example

A more complex javascript gulp task using gulp-inject-stringified-html plugin.

// gulpfile.js

var path = require('path');
var gulp = require('gulp');
var newer = require('gulp-newer');
var concat = require('gulp-concat');
var uglify = require('gulp-uglify');
var sourcemaps = require('gulp-sourcemaps');
var injectHtml = require('gulp-inject-stringified-html');

gulp.task('js', function () {
  var dest = './public';
  var filename = 'app.js'
  
  return gulp.src(['src/**/*.js')
    .pipe(newer(path.join(dest, filename)))
    .pipe(sourcemaps.init())
      .pipe(injectHtml())  // <--- gulp-inject-stringified-html here.
      .pipe(concat(filename))
      .pipe(uglify())
    .pipe(sourcemaps.write())
    .pipe(gulp.dest(dest));
});

Customize!

You provide custom pre and post escape tags to change what the plugin looks for.

// gulpfile.js

var injectHtml = require('gulp-inject-stringified-html');

gulp.task('js', function () {
  return gulp.src(['src/views/hello.js'])
    .pipe(injectHtml({
      pre: '!!![[[',                  // <-- custom beginning tag!
      post: ']]]'                     // <-- and custom end tag!!
    }))
    .pipe(gulp.dest('public/hello.js'));

// src/views/hello.js

function sayHello() {
  return !!![[[ 'hello.html' ]]];    // <-- Usage of custom tags!!!
}

Path Syntax

Relative Paths

All examples above use relative paths to inject the corresponding template.

Often single page apps put templates and view logic in the same directory. Using relative paths with gulp-inject-stringified-html are usually best for this.

// Common Directory Structure

project/
   gulpfile.js
   src/
      views/
         hello/
            hello.js   <-- JS View
            hello.html <-- HTML Template
         login/
            login.js
            login.html
         goodbye/
            goodbye.js 
      models/...
      styles/...
      vendor/...
   public/...

Furthermore, to demonstrate the flexibility of file paths in gulp-inject-stringify-html plugin...

...let's just say we want the goodbye.js view to utilize the hello.html template. We can actually put in a .. within the path to get into the views/ directory. See the goodbye.js example code below.

// src/views/goodbye.js

function sayGoodbye() {
  return { gulp_inject: '../views/hello/hello.html' };
  //  or  './../views/hello/hello.html' --^
}

Absolute Paths

But sometimes projects have one directory holding all the templates. Using the absolute path syntax may work best here.

For absolute paths, the gulp-inject-stringify-html plugin joins the given path with the gulpfile.js location (ex: project/ directory).

// Alternative Common Directory Structure

project/
   gulpfile.js
   src/
      js/
         views/
            hello.js
            login.js
            goodbye.js
         models/...
         vendor/...
      templates/
         hello.html
         login.html
      styles/...

Below is an example using absolute path syntax.

// src/js/views/hello.js

function sayHello() {
  return { gulp_inject: '/src/templates/hello.html' };
}

And that's it! Enjoy!

License

The MIT License (MIT)

Copyright (c) 2015 Derek Severson

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.